The Big Leagues

A killer three-pointer no longer cuts it in the world of pro basketball. To succeed as a multimillion-dollar brand, an athlete needs business savvy, fashion know-how and good table manners. Welcome to the N.B.A.’s other training camp.

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A LEG UP Spencer Dinwiddie of the Detroit Pistons during a down moment before the N.B.A.'s rookie photo shoot.Credit Eric White

They had heard a succession of horrifying tales about drug addiction, alcohol abuse and women of ill repute who hang around hotel lobbies in unfamiliar cities. They had been told how to seize control of their new fortunes, how to distinguish genuine friends from opportunistic hangers-on and how to nimbly sidestep tricky questions in interviews. And now, as part of a program to help them prepare for the most seismic transformation of their lives, members of the National Basketball Association’s rookie class of 2014 were assembled in a conference room in a hotel in Florham Park, N.J., being lectured on a crucial part of their new job: personal style.

“These are some of the things that are inappropriate, guys,” said Rachel Johnson, a celebrity stylist who has worked with such megastar athletes as LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. She looked sharply at the 59 young men arrayed in front of her. “No headphones outside of the locker room, bus or plane. No sleeveless shirts. No chains!”

Video: Rob Kassabian

On the road with N.B.A. rookies Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics, Doug McDermott of the Chicago Bulls and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The league has a “business-casual” dress code, a look foreign to most of the rookies, whose closets are full of jeans and sweatpants. Every gentleman should have a peacoat, a raincoat, a varsity jacket and an overcoat, she said; also a blue suit, a gray suit and a black suit. Cargo pants are versatile and can be dressed up to look fancier than they are. You can mix and match; the navy jacket will look just fine with the black pants. Do not use the same Irish Spring soap on your face that you use under your arms. When you leave the house, throw on a classic watch and your signature fragrance, and assume that you are being observed at all times.

Chris Copeland, a wry, wild-haired 30-year-old who played in Europe for years and is now with the Indiana Pacers, said he could benefit from some sprucing up. “I’m not one of those guys who is superbig on fashion,” he said, folding himself into a chair. “I learned a lot about keeping it simple, about finding certain pieces that may look by themselves to be casual, but with the right piecing together can be more of a business look.”

It is hard to overstate how drastic a change is required of basketball players, most of them barely old enough to drink, when they go pro. One day they’re students who live and breathe the sport; the next, they’re multimillionaires who are expected not only to be exceptional athletes but also exceptional role models, media personalities and holders of that elusive thing, that golden ticket: the personal brand.

“We know that making the transition from wherever they came from — high school, college — is a substantial life change,” said Greg Taylor, the N.B.A.’s senior vice president of player development. “So, very basically, we’re trying to provide them with the information and support they need.” He added: “If you handle all of your life issues off the court, you’re going to maximize your potential on the court.”

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ATTENTION TO DETAIL Texas native Marcus Smart, wearing a blazer lined with tributes to his mother and his late brother, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on the day he was drafted by the Boston Celtics.Credit Eric White

That is the thinking that led the league to create, in 1986, the Rookie Transition Program, a seminar that every new draftee is contractually required to take. The 2014 session took place the first week of August. Since many of the N.B.A. officials on hand were themselves former players, it was hard to attend as a normal-size person without feeling like you had inadvertently wandered onto the set of “Avatar.” It was like being a small, old zebra in a room full of stampeding young giraffes; if you did not watch where you were going, particularly at lunchtime when the players were swarming the buffet, you ran the risk of getting lost underfoot.

The program itself was dense, intense and dizzyingly varied. There were tips on how to drive your new sports car without having an unfortunate incident. There were lessons in how to sleep properly when you keep crazy hours and stay in hotel beds that might not be as long as you are tall (make sure the room is dark, for starters; if you have to eat late, stick to calming carbohydrates). There was advice about navigating on-camera interviews when, for instance, you are half-naked in the locker room. There was a bit on “embracing manhood.” There was a discussion of gender violence, sexual harassment and the appropriate treatment of women. There were segments on anger, guns, weapons, drugs and gambling (message: avoid those things).

The rookies, who sat in rows as if they were in school, were divided into color-coded teams and put into competitive question-answering situations in which they could amass points and win electronic gadgets. Many of the presentations were participatory. During the fashion tutorial, several rookies were sent down the “runway” in sharp outfits — fresh-faced Doug McDermott of the Chicago Bulls in a classic blazer and khakis; very tall Cleanthony Early, a Wichita State superstar who is now with the New York Knicks, rocking dress slacks and a snazzy varsity jacket — past their applauding, whistling colleagues. “Obviously when he gets to the venue he’s going to take his sunglasses off,” Johnson said. (The league forbids sunglasses indoors.)

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From top left: the entry to the Rookie Transition Program, held at a hotel in Florham Park, N.J.; cautionary pointers; Smart's tie and pocket-square options for the event.Credit Eric White

During media training, the presenter conducted a mock interview with Spencer Dinwiddie of the Detroit Pistons, trying to trip him up with tough questions about, for example, Donald Sterling. How did he do, she asked the crowd. “Every time you tried to throw something negative at him, he turned it around and made it something positive,” the Brooklyn Nets’ Markel Brown said. “I have a concern,” another rookie interjected playfully. “Although he had a good interview, I just couldn’t get over his mustache.”

Meanwhile, in the section on financial planning, the players were told to recite the words “I don’t want to go broke” aloud; soon it became a chant, with some of them clapping along. And in a session on how to make good decisions, they were shown clips from familiar movies and asked to vote, using handheld devices, on what the characters should do next. After a scene from “Blue Jasmine” in which a character gets into a fight with her boyfriend after she sleeps with another man, the players voted on what they would have done, with options including “hit the girlfriend” and “leave and go get high and drunk.” (No one chose those.) Sixty-two percent of the rookies said they would “call another girl and hang out with her.”

There was also a great deal of practical advice. Lecturing the rookies about the importance of remaining properly hydrated at all times, an athletic-performance expert told them to think of steak and beef jerky — steak being a piece of meat that is properly hydrated, beef jerky being one that is not. He told them about water and salt, about the optimum color of urine (like neither apple juice nor Guinness), about the benefits of sports drinks. “Lubricate your joints,” he advised. “Dehydration is usually not a one-time event!”

Looming over the proceedings like a vulture perched in a tree was what Taylor called Sudden Wealth Syndrome, a condition that often manifests in the purchase of flashy stuff — jewelry, cars, houses, 20 suits when three would do fine. A team of experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers walked the rookies through tax forms, credit scores and how to hire the appropriate people — not your father, not your old friend from the neighborhood — to manage your earnings. Some tips: Pay your bills on time; do not co-sign loans for friends, because no one ever pays those back; make a living will. “You do have more money than you’ve ever had, and people come around and get mad at you if you don’t give them everything they ask for,” Copeland said. “You have to develop a tough skin and learn to say no.”

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LIFE LESSONS Gary Harris of the Denver Nuggets (left) and Doug McDermott of the Chicago Bulls get schooled on table settings.Credit Eric White

As much as the players need to learn how to deal with their money, so do their parents need to learn how to deal with their suddenly superrich sons. In a prelude to the Rookie Transition Program, some families attended a seminar on that very topic during June draft week in New York. The N.B.A. played video from the reality television show “Mom’s Got Game” featuring Pamela McGee, the mother and business manager of JaVale McGee, whose contract with the Denver Nuggets is worth $44 million over four years. In the clip, JaVale is shown eagerly going to a car dealership with some friends. After his mother arrives, he tells her he wants to buy a $433,500 Maybach. She throws a huge bucket of cold water on the idea. “First of all, it’s a MY-bach,” she says, correcting his pronunciation. And then she snaps: “This ain’t how we spend our money.” The attending parents were advised to help provide similar reality checks. “If you see him coming home looking like Mr. T from the 1980s” — dripping with bling — “tell him to bring the stuff back,” one speaker said.

Money is one thing; women are another altogether. “We joke that the moment you sign your contract, you become far more handsome than the day before,” Taylor said. Detlef Schrempf, who was at the program to share his own experience in the N.B.A. in the 1980s and ’90s, agreed. “You’re talking about superstar athletes and male hormones,” he said. “For those who want to partake, it’s easily accessible 24/7.”

To deter the rookies from partaking, there was a slide show juxtaposing photographs of beautiful semi-clad women with photographs of hideously diseased genitalia. There was also a handout listing how much child support the rookies would be required to pay in various states, should they find themselves in sudden possession of a child after a one-night stand. “It was disturbing,” said Tyler Ennis, 20, a freshman star at Syracuse University who was drafted to play for the Phoenix Suns.

Among the more lively seminars were those devoted to the topics of personal branding and professional conduct. DeNita Turner, the president of a company called Image Builders, advised the rookies on how to spot freeloaders, how to conduct themselves like businesspeople and how to behave at banquets and work functions. Among her tips: If people live in your house, use your credit cards and drive your car, you should know their last names; if you meet a woman who claims her name is Sparkle Smith, it isn’t; when you are in a business meeting, do not slouch. The round spoon is the soup spoon; do not break your roll in half and slather butter over the whole thing before you eat it; if you don’t know anyone at an event, talk to someone who is standing alone. “The etiquette was good, definitely,” Ennis said. “A lot of people wouldn’t know which forks to use or why there are so many plates on the table. And I learned a lot about handshakes.”

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From left: Marcus Smart posing for his first trading card; Jerami Grant with his new teammate Joel Embiid, a Cameroonian rookie who was drafted third by the Philadelphia 76ers despite having undergone surgery for a stress fracture; cards that reflect the topics covered at the annual Rookie Transition Program.Credit Eric White

Even with all this coaching and help, N.B.A. players inevitably slip up. Take your pick: Javaris Crittenton, who is currently awaiting trial on murder charges, was suspended in 2010 after bringing a gun into the Washington Wizards locker room; Antoine Walker, a former All-Star who earned more than $110 million in his career, gambled and invested his money away, filing for bankruptcy in 2010. Latrell Sprewell was kicked out for a time in 1997 for going at the throat of the Golden State Warriors coach P. J. Carlesimo and threatening to kill him.

Not even the transition program itself is exempt from mishaps. In 2008, Mario Chalmers of the Miami Heat and Darrell Arthur, formerly of the Memphis Grizzlies, were sent home and fined $20,000 after being caught with women in a room that smelled of pot. And last year, Shabazz Muhammad, a rookie for the Minnesota Timberwolves, was ejected after illicitly entertaining a woman (he was forced to repeat the program this year).

“We’ve all heard the horror stories,” said Jason Collins, who most recently played for the Brooklyn Nets and who, as the N.B.A.’s first openly gay player, had come to talk about diversity. “When they leave the Rookie Transition Program, their learning process is just beginning.”

Marcus Smart, a sweet, megatalented Boston Celtics rookie who made a fashion statement on draft night by having tributes to his mother, late brother and alma mater printed on the lining of his bespoke jacket, said the most important thing he learned was to “find someone you trust who has a good character and try to pick his brains and learn as much as you can.” Expertly employing the tips on how to take control of an interview, he looked this reporter straight in the eye and, with the utmost politeness, expertly skirted all the hard questions about specific parts of the program. Then he shook hands firmly, said thank you and loped out of the room, ready for the big leagues.

Correction: September 21, 2014An article last Sunday about the N.B.A’s Rookie Transition Program, a training camp that teaches draftees to handle the challenges that come with their new professional role, referred incompletely to Latrell Sprewell’s career in the N.B.A. While he was indeed kicked out of the league for going at the throat of P.J. Carlesimo, coach of the Golden State Warriors, and threatening to kill him, he later returned to the N.B.A. to play for the New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A version of this article appears in print on 09/14/2014, on page M2117 of the NewYork edition with the headline: The Big Leagues.